Educational game apparatus



Jan. 2, 1940. w, spmo 2,185,232

EDUCATIONAL GAME APPARATUS Filed Sept. 16, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Fig. .L.

/O Z2751 tar .5774'1'0 mm 1941), SPlRQ 2,185,232

EDUCATIONAL GAME APPARATUS Filed Sept. 16, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 mod/M4113 Patented Jan. 2, 1940 UNITED STATES TENT QFFEQE 7 Claims.

This invention is directed to an educational game apparatus designed more particularly for the teaching and playing of the game of contract bridge.

It has been heretofore proposed to provide an educational game apparatus for the playing and teaching of contract bridge wherein a game board of solid form is arranged to cooperate with any one of a series of sheets bearing card indicia arranged in the form of hands, bidding indicia to be exposed following a particular bid to determine the correctness of that bid, and certain other details enumerated on the sheet by which the player, playing the hand or hands according to his option, may learn of the correctness of his play after the play is made and thus be instructed or advised as to such play. These game boards of previous structures are naturally of considerable surface area in order that the necessary details may appear in convenient size and hence such game boards are not especially designed to be conveniently carried in a knock-down form to facilitate their storage in a small compact relation and thus be rendered available in situations Where the carrying of the relatively large solid board would be inconvenient.

The primary object of the present invention is the provision of an educational game apparatus of this type wherein the board proper is made up of hingedly related sections conveniently foldable when not desired for use in a package which will have the length and breadth of not more than one of the sections, so that when not desired for use, the game board may be folded and conveniently carried in the pocket or a pocket container and readily and conveniently assembled into game board-forming relation with the minimum of time and trouble, thereby permitting the user to carry the apparatus with him without any inconvenience whatever and utilize it for interestingstudy and play at any time, for example when traveling, where the inconvenience of carrying the larger solid game board would be objectionable.

A further object of the present invention is to form the sections of the improved game board with all the accessories necessary to permit the playing of a card and to determine the proper bid and proper cards for a particular trick as in the previously designed game boards 0:" this character; that is to say, the sections of the improved game board will each be formed with openings through which the card indicia on the sheet may be exposed and provided with movable shutters through which the particular card indicia of a particular opening may be exposed at will, with the game board sections further provided with shutters which will normally indicate, when raised, the proper bid as printed on the sheet and also the proper cards to appear in any one trick. 5

A further object of the invention is the provision of the sheet on which a particular game is printed, the sheet bearing indicia of the cards arranged in hand formation, the proper bids of a particular hand and the proper cards to be played on the successive tricks, these indicia on the sheet being arranged for cooperation with the shutters and openings of the game board sections, with the sheet additionally printed, if desired, with instructions or other necessary data in connection with the game; this sheet, for the purpose of the present invention, being scored or marked for folding into an area commensurate with that of one of the sections of the sectional game board, whereby the sheet or a series of such sheets, together with the sectional game board, may, when not in use, be arranged in compact form for convenient carrying in the pocket, so that the whole structure may be readily available at all times and under all conditions.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a plan view of the improved game apparatus showing the same in position on the sheet.

Figure 2 is an elevation of the game apparatus folded.

Figure 3 is a section on line 3--3 of Figure 2.

Figure 4 is a plan of one of the enlarged sections of a modified form. 35

Figure 5 is a plan of one of the sections of a further modified form.

Figure 6 is a section through one of the shutters.

Figure '7 is a section through the strip and sheet proper.

The improved game board is preferably constructed of cardboard and formed to provide four narrow elongated sections l, the meeting edges of which are mitered at degrees at 2, and such edges connected for hinging at 3 except for the final edge where the sections are united through a convenient removable connection, such for example as a snap fastener 4.

The hinges 3 are, of course, to be in any form or of any type which may answer the desired relative movement of the sections, such hinges being here shown by conventional spiral wire connectors 5, it being specifically understood, however, that such spiral Wire connection is merely illustrative of any desired type of hinge which will permit the respective sections to fold one upon the other when in collapsed relation.

In each of the sections there are formed openings 6 through which the card indicia on the printed sheet I are exposed. For ordinary contract bridge there will be thirteen of such openings, and there is additionally provided a shutter 1 for each of said openings. The shutters are hingedly connected to the strip in order to permit themv to be raised to expose the card indicia of the respective openings or to be closed to conceal such card indicia.

The shutters may, for example, be out from the material of the section, thus forming the shutter and opening at the same time, or the openings may be formed in the section and the shutters provided from other material to completely cover the opening. In the present illustration, the shutters are shown as cut from the material of the section and the section at the connected edge of the shutter is scored or otherwise formed to permit convenient opening or closing of the shutter.

It is preferable that the shutter be formed from separate material in order that the shutter may rest upon the surface of the section and thus project above such surface for convenient opening. If desired, the sections may be made of cardboard with a very thin sheet of metal applied to the surface thereof, in which event the shutters will be cut from the metal covering and scored to permit convenient opening and closing. This will, of course, afford a long life to the shutter connection without liability of breaking away incident to repeated use.

If desired and as illustrated in Figure 4, all the shutters may be connected to the section by a spiral wire hinge connection 8 similar to that shown at 3.

Projecting from the relatively inner edges of each section and connected to such edges by a hinge connection 8, which may be of the spiral wire form or any desired form, are a plurality of narrow shutters H! which, when extended beyond the inner edge of the section, cover successively bidding indicia 9 printed on the sheet, so that when the first such shutter is raised, the first proper bid for the cards making up the hand of that section will be noted, and so on for successive bids.

There are also connected to the inner edges of the respective sections a plurality of wider shutters H. These shutters are, either by the spiral wire connector or other appropriate hinge connection, connected for swinging relation to the sections and when extended from the inner edge of the section, cover what is referred to as trick indicia l3 marked on the sheet. Each trick indicium contains the representation of the four cards which, in proper play according to the expert, should make up a trick.

Therefore, after a trick has been played, the proper shutter ll may be moved back into the section I to expose the cards of that trick so that the player will know Whether his optional play is correct or not and can then figuratively return to the hands the improper cards by opening the shutter 1 and make the proper play from the hands to agree with that indicated in the trick indicia by the expert.

As there are thirteen tricks in ordinary contract bridge, the shutters II will be thirteen in number and may be arranged for cooperation with the inner edges of each section; that is,

for example, three sections will have three such shutters H and the fourth section will have four. These shutters, on the face uppermost when the shutter is closed, may have a number which will indicate the number of the trick.

The sheet with which the foldable game board is to be used is, as stated, scored for folding into as compact an area as that occupied by the collapsed sections. This sheet bears on its face printed data showing the four hands, the proper bids for each of the hands according to the expert determination, and the proper cards to be played on each successive trick according to the expert determination. All these data are concealed initially except the cards of the players hand which are all exposed in order to permit an initial bid and initial play. The dummys cards, that is the partner of the player, it being assumed and the sheet being correspondingly arranged so that the player is always the successful bidder, are initially concealed by the shutters until the bidding is completed, when all of the dummys cards are exposed after the initial lead, as in the regular game.

Conventional spring clips. indicated generally at M, are provided on two or more of the sections l in order to secure the sheet in proper position beneath the sections, the sheet being marked at any appropriate point to correspond with a marking on one of the sections, in order that the sheet may be initially placed in proper position.

As a modification such as illustrated in i ure 5, it is evident that the openings 6 may be omitted and that the shutters 1, which in the form first described are arranged to cover or uncover such openings, may be utilized to be extended beyond the edge of the section to cover the card indicia and folded back upon the surface of the section to expose such card indicia. Thus, in the form shown in Figure 5, the shutters 15, which are formed and mounted identically with that of the shutters 1 in the form first described, may, in their operative cardconcealing position, be projected beyond the edge of the section and folded back upon the section, as indicated at one instance in this figure, to expose the card indicia.

Of course, under these circumstances, the printed sheet indic'ated at H; and otherwise identical with the sheet of the form first described, will be made somewhat larger than the game board when the sections are in operative relation. This will provide a narrow margin [1 of the sheet which extends beyond the outer edges of the sections when the latter are in position and on which margin, and in proper relation to cooperate with the shutters l5, there are printed the indicia representing respective cards of each hand.

Aside from this variation in structure, the modified arrangement is identical with that of the form first described; the modified form presenting in some instances an advantage over the form first described in avoiding the necessity of forming the openings 6 and at the same time and to this extent increasing the stren th of the sections.

When the improved game board is not desired for use, all shutters are folded back on their respective sections, and the sections folded one upon the other through the hinge connection 3, so that when collapsed the sections are arranged in superimposed relation, as indicated in Figure 2. The sheet which has been detached from the game board is folded into similar compact form and the entire structure thus presents a small compact package which may be readily extended into playing condition at any time.

Thus, as distinguished from the ordinary comparatively large rigid game board, the improved game board may be readily and conveniently carried in the pocket and used whenever the owner. desires to play the game. This makes the structure as a whole convenient under many situations where the necessity of transporting the relatively large solid board would be very inconvenient, for example, such as when traveling.

The sections and shutters, either or both, may be made of any appropriate material. While a heavy cardboard is preferred owing to its inexpensive character, it is, of course, apparent that cardboard covered with thin metal, with the sections constructed entirely of metal, hard rubber, Bakelite, or more precious materials, such as ivory or even silver or gold, may be utilized. The material is unimportant so long as it is sufficiently rigid in character to carry out its function, and so long as it possesses, among other characteristics, the desired rigidity while made in comparatively thin sections.

What is claimed to be new is:

1. An educational game apparatus including a game board made up of hingedly connected elongated relatively narrow sections movable into operative rectangular outline relation to define a border for an interior unobstructed space or into inoperative relation with the sections superimposed, the border defining edge providing for the reception of game indicia concealing or exposing elements.

2. An educational game apparatus including a sheet bearing hand-forming card indicia, bidding indicia, and trick-indicating indicia, and a game board to overlie such sheet and formed to expose at will any such indicia, said game board comprising hingedly connected elongated relatively narrow sections movable to an operative rectangular outline position to define a border for an interior obstructed space, with means on said border for definite relation to such indicia, said sections being foldable into an inoperative position with the sections superimposed.

3. A construction as defined in claim 2, wherein the outer edge of the sections are formed with openings to expose the hand-forming card indicia, and wherein the border defining the interior obstructed space is provided with shutters movably connected to the sections to cooperate with and expose or conceal such card indicia.

4. A construction as defined in claim 2, wherein the inner edges of the sections as in operative position are provided with shutters movably connected to the sections and operative to conceal or expose the bidding indicia.

5. A construction as defined in claim 2, wherein the inner edges of the sections as in operative position are provided with shutters movably connected to the sections and operative to conceal or expose the bidding indicia.

6. An educational game apparatus for the playing of and instructing in contract bridge, including a sheet with definitely printed indicia to represent at different points the cards of the hands, the proper bidding of the respective hands, and the cards to be properly played on each successive trick, a game board made up of narrow elongated sections having hinged relation one to the other to permit the sections to be opened to form a rectangular hollow frame to overlie the indicia of the cards of the hand, the frame having an inner border to define an unobstructed area of the sheet, with such border having elements movable to conceal or expose certain data on the sheet, said sections being foldable when not in use into a compact unit with the sections superimposed,

7. A construction as defined in claim 6, wherein the relatively inner edges of the sections are provided with movable flaps to permit the flaps to be arranged inwardly of the sections to conceal certain indicia on the sheet, the flaps being movable to rest upon the sections when the indicia is to be exposed or when the sections are to be folded.

WALTER SPIRO. 

